When recently I noticed that the number of photos stored on my computer over the last decade now totals close to 30,000, it seemed time to do some culling. I don’t take my photography very seriously, though it brings me great pleasure. No organizational plan, though I save my best sunrises to Flickr and my best family and friends to Facebook. No labeling or key word systems, though iPhoto gives me chronological order and face recognition.

Gleaning the best images is not difficult. For instance, thirty photos of the sun rising on any particular day usually gives me one or two gems, two or three more that aren’t too bad, then the other twenty or so can be tossed. My problem is: what to do with pictures like the one above. It’s not worth saving for the fern tree or the Jasmine in bloom or the modestly patterned brick chimney on the house next door. Surely, the photograph itself is no work of art. I was interested to notice the jury-rigged guttering for rain collection and the curious stair-stepping pattern of red bricks left unpainted, but that’s no reason to archive this photo. Nor does the house feature any memorable architectural details.

No, I kept this image because it pleases me.